Ok – well Ex-Techie has started to link things together. Dust, whilst being an
insulator can cause overheating through holding heat close to the components, it is not conductive when dry.
However, add a little moisture to the equation and you do have a very nice conductive medium. Now we all know that liquids and electronic components do not mix, nothing new here but most just think that by preventing people drinking near, or placing a drink in the immediate vicinity is enough to remove this risk.
This is not the case. Part of this question was to get you to link the whole dust + moisture = risk scenario as being a serious problem. When stating that you should think about your own
theatre environment, I wanted you to think about the possible sources of moisture.
Another thing was to get you thinking about equipment maintenance (and why it is important). There was some discussion about covering air vents but I would not tend to do this. Keep in mind that some amps have fans that force air into the amp, some have fans that draw air out of the amp and some have both.
Now, I am not actually going to elaborate on these points now. Rather, I am going to leave them open for discussion. Part of being a responsible tech is being able to look at an issue and then identify what the possible problems that can arise and why. Once you start thinking in this way, you will find that risk reduction becomes much simpler. Remember, you are much better asking “would this cause a problem” than asking “Gee, I wonder why that happened”. Initially though, looking at past problems will put the little red flags into your mind, which (hopefully) will pop up when you see similar things later on.
So – the challenge is still there – cite the possible sources of moisture that are commonly seen in the industry and give the basics of cleaning amps and keeping them clean.
I look forward to reading the discussions.